Baby Dee, Safe Inside the Day

A 54-year-old transgender harpist who associates with Will Oldham, Antony Hegarty and Andrew WK, Baby Dee follows in the well-worn tradition of eccentric American folk music. Her debut album is exquisitely arranged, but the stumbling block is Dee's voice, which wobbles in all directions. Unconventional vocal styles can make for rewarding art, but Baby Dee's cackles and whinnies are so strained that you're left feeling she is very keen indeed to show how much of a crazy outsider she is. Neither does this serve any narrative purpose: Dee's lyrics are evocative and occasionally comic, but sabotaged by her insistence on turning herself into a grating gimmick. A pity: on the rare occasion that she finds a sense of restraint, such as the beautiful closer You'll Find Your Footing, Dee proves that she can be a formidable performer when she so chooses.